Monday, February 26, 2007

Bumpy Bubba in Baltimore (2) - Five Guys

Five Guys Burgers and Fries began as a family run business in 1986 by 5 brothers. It focuses on serving the best burgers possible. Today, there are Five Guys restaurants all along the East Coast, from New York to Florida. However, the philosophy is still the same. Five Guys continues to focus on the quality of the food.

Once entered the premise, big boxes of yummy peanuts were waiting for the customers to grab and munch.

I love those peanuts. Crunchy, huge and delicious. I would definitely grab a full hand if not because of my more important focus of the meal.

If you go to see their press page, there is a list of awards for their burgers and fries. In fact, in the restaurant, these awards were written clearly on the wall.

The awards triggered my curiosity on the real thing.

I was more excited to see the "Never Frozen" quote for the 100% Fresh American Beef and "Fresh Cut" Fries that "Cooked in 100% Pure Peanut Oil".

So, I placed my order. The staffs were friendly and the services were nice. I enjoyed that.

All I have to do was to wait for my number to be called.

After 5 min...

Tralala~~~ my Five Guys hamburger!

Oh oh... that was a huge burger. One fun thing about the burger was the as many free toppings option. I chose ketchup, mustard, tomato, fried onion and lettuce.

Also, my Cajun style fries. Gosh~~~ another big portion.

I paid a total US$6.30 for my burger and fries. Might sound a bit expensive, but the portion matched the price.

Oh my, the "regular" hamburger turned out to be "double patties". That was way too much for me. I finished all though. I should have ordered the junior hamburger. Oh well, at least next time I know the "regular" does not necessary be a "normal size".

Except for the double patties and lack of ketchup, this was a great burger. The patties tasted just as it quoted. "Fresh", "Non Frozen", "100% Beef". I was impressed with the natural beef taste. You know it is the real thing with the 1st bite.

The fries, I made a wrong choice. I should have chose the regular fries after tried my friend's one. These fries are good, but the Cajun seasoning was a bit too much for my palate that prefer a more natural and simple goodie.

So, I voted In and Out as the best place for burgers and fries in the West.

Now, I vote Five Guys as the best choice for the best burgers and fries.

In fact, I see close similarity between the two.Simple menu. Fresh ingredient. Great service.These are really what a great simple burger and scrumptious fries need.

She just added the seasonings one by one according to her decades cooking experience.

Then, as the pork she used was quite lean, she put some vegetable oil to give the meat a smoother texture.

Next, was to coat the seasoned meat with the rice flour mixture.

Instead of using the conventional steaming, she chose to cook it with the microwave as the stoves were used for making other dishes.

So, she added some water, put into the microwave and cooked for a few minutes. Then, she added some more water and mixed it well again before put back into the microwave, The adding water, mixing and microwaving steps were repeat for a few times.

Finally...

Tralala~~~ a microwaved rice flour steamed meat was born. ^_^

It was good. I was impressed with the way how rice flour was utilized in such a form.

Another true taste from Jiang Xi. Why don't you try to make it too? Simple to make, unique taste and texture... definitely a dish worth to remember.

p/s : I have a lot of thing to do tonight. Need to be quick as I am going to sleep at 10pm tonight. Need to wake up at 3.00am to get ready for a 3-day trip that will depart at 4.00am. 4.00am!!! No Kidding!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

First CNY in U.S.A

I woke up this morning and said to myself, "Happy New Year!"

Did nothing whole day, except eating, talking on the phone and relaxing myself.

Yesterday, I joint the Yang's family for a great CNY eve.

We went to do shopping for a few hours before heading back for preparing the CNY Eve's Dinner. I was indeed very grateful for the invitation. You know it is not a good feeling to celebrate this festive holiday alone.

Mama Yang started to get busy and dirty at the kitchen.

Xin and me were assigned to make sesame paste rice dumplings. We spent a few hours to finish the assignment.

This was the first trial batch. Big and small, thick and thin.

After an hour, we really made those rice dumplings looked as round and as same size on each of them. ^_^

The taste was fabulous. Now I know that to make a good sesame paste rice dumplings was not a hard task at all. Details on how to make will be in later posts.

In Jiang Xi, it is a tradition to eat this sweet rice dumplings during CNY eve.

Around the dinner time, Mama Yang has prepared a full table of dishes.

Although the dinner was scheduled at 6.30pm, the guest only reached 35 min later.

Papa Yang decided to get out his precious Chinese white wine, Mao Tai to drink with me first. :P

My 1st glass of Mao Tai, the national wine of China.

"Kanpai!"

The Mao Tai was very flavourful. A very strong 53% alcohol spirit.

It was too strong to drink that alone.

However, with this great Chinese dumpling, the wine tasted really awesome.

Luckily we ate this to fill up the hunger while waiting for the guests to come. Hmmm...

Once the guests reached at 7.05pm, we started to chomp down all the great foods!!

This is a must eat soup in Jiang Xi during CNY eve. It is called Hu Geng (糊羹), a kind of thick soup made from sweet potato starch.

I love this. By adding Chinese Black Vinegar, it was as good as a bowl of good shark fin soup. *Slurp*

This is another great traditional dish of Yang's family. It is steamed pork with rice flour. On that night, Mama Yang cooked it using microwave and the result was as good as the steamed version. I will show how to make this in my coming posts. ;)

We also have this soft and chewy five spices pork tongue. A dish that simply made you addicted to it easily.

Also, the classic dish in Yang's family, a good plate of five spices beef. Scrumptious taste with great texture.

This is a unique dish of Jiang Xi province. A dish that made from Pomelo spongy rind (pith?). Very special texture and unique flavour. How to made this? I will show in my coming posts too. :P

Jiang Xi is a province in China that plants pomelo in big mass. However, the spongy rind has higher price that the sweet flesh due to its high demand in using it in cooking. It was an interesting fact for me.

Eat tofu, then you will become rich rich. :P

This plate of black bean pork braised tofu was simply something simple, flavourful and yummy to accompany those meat dishes.

This Chinese Cabbage stir fry was another great mild fiber source for a balanced meal.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Today, CNY is getting near...

... mom is too busy to even to talk to me for more than 5 min.

... my friend is too busy with her 26th birthday which she will not forget for life as she has her best present - she get her new job. (MC, really proud of you. You'll be the most sexy, hottest and attractive new staff in your new location. Muahaha~~~)

... blogosphere is so boring as people are busy with their CNY.

Me?

I am too busy to edit photos for my work now. :(

I miss homecook CNY meal.

Especially my mom's one. I couldn't help but to saliva dripping when she was mentioning she cooked this, that and those in the phone. I am super jealous with my siblings now. Xi Beh Xing Fu.

Now, this is the time when you will deeply think being alone is not good at all.